


Broken Halves

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Realities, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 19:56:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17793755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: After Keith died, Shiro searches the other realities for one where Keith had lost his Shiro.





	Broken Halves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meru/gifts).



The applause from the crowd faded behind him as Shiro walked away from the podium, unable to look up at the mechanical lions. 

They had betrayed him, especially the one who had once saved him. 

As the sun was setting, he reached the gravesite. Krolia was already there, alone and crouched down before a tombstone. A twig snapped under his feet, alerting her that he was behind. She didn’t flinch or threaten him to stay away. She didn’t blame him for her son’s death, although Shiro felt every bit responsible. 

He couldn’t even look down on the tombstone, refusing to see the name—the shock of it hurt every time. He and Krolia had selected that tombstone together, working silently in choosing the finest stone. Everything had to be perfect. Keith deserved that much. 

The others needed to get rushed to the hospital, but they survived. Shiro himself had rushed into the Black Lion to retrieve Keith, only to end up holding him in his arms, shocked at the sight of him, broken beyond repair; in his final moments, Keith managed to meet his eyes, his lips silently forming his name, smiling as if Shiro’s appearance somehow took all the pain away, and he was gone. 

“I’m so sorry,” Shiro spoke tearfully towards Keith’s grave. “I’m so sorry.” 

He wished Krolia had hated him for not looking after Keith; that all he did was hold Keith in his arms and cry after his passing, but she had instead become a close friend. Her friendship was undeserved. If it weren’t for him, Keith would still be here. 

He heard a little gasp and turned around, seeing Acxa. She must have just arrived, and her wide eyes told him everything.

*

“No. Please, no.”

Allura had said they needed a new paladin for the Black Lion. Of course, the Lion chose him. The traitor. The lion could have saved Keith the same way she saved him! But no amount of trying could get Shiro to reach Keith through the lion’s consciousness; and he banged against the roof of the cockpit and cursed the lion for taking Keith from him, from everyone. 

Was this how it felt for Keith? He remembered sensing him, and he tried to call for him, but he was so far away it was like trying to grab hold of the wispy remnants of a dream. 

The Atlas stood in the distance. How would he pilot both?

*

The thought should have terrified him. If Honerva entering other realities had threatened destruction, what would happen with him attempting the same? Yet there was something about the Black Lion’s own unique ability. Whenever he needed to leave the Atlas, Shiro handed the reins over to Coran, but he could still trigger the transformation while piloting the Black Lion: somehow activating his bayard would set off the transformation. A link connected the two mechs, and Shiro suspected it had to do with his arm.

The others had been to another reality before that fateful fight with Honerva. Shiro had interrogated Hunk for the specifics, fascinated by all he had heard. He avoided Pidge’s gaze or Lance’s frank questions. No, he wasn’t getting any mad ideas. 

He sat in the cockpit of the Black Lion and contemplated his next move. In an existence of infinity realities, there had to be one where he, Shiro, had died. There had to be a reality where Keith survived Shiro. 

“Please,” Shiro said softly as he ran his hands over the dashboard. His eyes fell on the small photo of Keith he kept there. “You took Keith from me. I’m only asking you to bring me to one reality, and one only: a reality where Keith survived me. Do you understand? I do not wish to disturb any other Keith and Shiros. I only wish to see my Keith.” 

He didn’t think this was going to work; but as he slipped his bayard into place, the lion roared, her eyes glowing bright, and a portal opened before them.

*

The sunlight sat heavy against his face when he stepped out. Looking about himself, he realized there was nothing about here that he recognized and for a moment he wondered if his experiment had gone astray when—

“Takashi?” 

Shiro turned back, noticing the young man standing before a tombstone; he was regarding Shiro as if he had seen a ghost. Shiro strongly suspected who was buried in the grave even before he approached and saw the photo perched atop the raised earth. 

Then, taking in the full view of the man’s appearance, Shiro’s eyes widened. 

“Keith?” he asked hopefully. 

The man turned his head to one side. “You’re using my middle name. And…sorry, I thought you were Takashi, you’re like him but not…” 

“I am Takashi, but all of my friends call me Shiro,” Shiro said. “You might not believe it, but I’ve traveled from another reality. I pilot a lion spaceship.” He motioned towards the Black Lion. The man gasped. 

“Go-Lion!” 

Shiro’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “Go-Lion?” The thought of another Voltron, even under a different name, would have been exhilarating all the same had this been under a different circumstance. 

“You pilot the same lion I pilot!” this Keith said. “But Takashi was the former pilot of the Blue Lion! Is there an Akira Kogane in your ranks?” 

So this _was_ Keith—or Akira. His Keith’s full name was Keith Akira Kogane. Shiro smiled sadly. 

“Yes,” Shiro said. “We knew him as Keith. But he used to pilot the Red Lion, and then used to pilot the Black Lion like yourself.” 

“Used to?” Akira studied his eyes. “Then what happened?” 

“He…he died,” Shiro’s voice faded. “I could not bear being alone. So I searched for another reality, one where that Keith lost his Shiro.” 

Pain and compassion crossed Akira’s eyes. He studied his lover’s grave. 

“What happened to Takashi?” 

“A witch named Honerva led to his death,” he explained. 

Shiro laughed hollowly. “An Honerva was the reason why Keith died, too.”

“I’m sorry,” they both said. 

“I still visit Takashi’s grave. I’ve never been able to get over it. Our Earth is all gone, too. I was at our old Space School recently, and I remembered our time there.” Akira’s lower lip quivered as he took a step forward. “You must have loved Keith so much to look for him here.” 

“Yes, but I never got to tell him,” Shiro said. “Keith told me, but I—I wasn’t in my right self at the time—he died and never got to know how I feel, and when he died, he died in my arms. I held him until they pried his body from me.” 

“It was the same with Takashi,” Akira said. “He protected me during our time as prisoners of the Galra. But in the end, just as we were had found a new home, had learned how to form Go-Lion, he died in my arms.” 

He bowed his head, and Shiro collected him in his arms, feeling his body quiver in his arms. He buried his face in the waves of Akira’s dark hair and let the tears fall. 

A hand came up, and pushed his head back, and then there were lips on his, and Shiro closed his eyes—Keith was kissing him, somehow beyond the grave, somehow here. 

“I’m sorry,” Akira whispered softly. “I don’t know how I can continue leading the team without Takashi by me.” 

_Just like him_ , Shiro thought, and smiled wetly. 

“I can’t stay,” Shiro said, holding tightly, “but I can visit. I’ll always see you, help you. Come to me alone. We’ll heal together.” 

“You’ll do that?” Akira asked. 

Shiro nodded and smiled encouragingly, remembering Keith’s promise to him long ago. “As many times as it takes.”


End file.
